Pride not enough, Seahawks lose to 49ers.

Mazvita Maraire

12/02/2002

The young Seahawks showed that they have a lot of pride , determination and resiliency during Sunday's to the 49ers. Unfortunately the only thing that determines the winner in the National Football League is the team with the most points at the end of the game. San Francisco 49ers 31 Seattle Seahawks 24.

The translation is simple, the never say die Seattle Seahawks (4-8) made too many mistakes to win against a playoff caliber team like the San Francisco 49ers(8-4)

Seattle won the coin toss and elected toreceive the opening kickoff. Mistake number one, return man James Williams returned the ball instead of letting it go in the endzone for a touchback. The Seahawks first offensive series started from their own three yard line.

After a scoreless first quarter the Seattle Seahawks went up 3-0 on a Ryan Lindell field goal with 47 seconds gone in the second quarter. It was after this 3-0 lead that the Seahawks showed their youth and made their second big mistake.

San Francisco running back Garrison Hurst scored on a five yard runto give the 49ers a 7-3 lead. Seattle punted, and allowed Jimmy Williams to return it 89 yard to give the 49ers a 14 to 3 lead with 3:08 left in the first half.

Jeff Chandler kicked a 23 yard field goal to push the 49ers lead to 17 to 3 with 20 seconds left in the half.

Mistake number three came on Seattle's first possession of the second half.Seattle Quarterback Matt Hasselbeck was picked off by San Fran Safety Tony Parrish who ran the ball to the Seattle 4 yard line.Garrison Hurstburst up the middle and into the end zone to score his second touchdown of the day.49ers 34 Seahawks 3.

Rather than give in , the young and determined Seahawks gathered themselves andscored on a 36 yard pass play from Matt Hasselbeck to Darryl Jackson Seattle 10 San Francisco 34.

The Seattle defense held the 49ers offense .The Seattle offense took the ball from it's own 23 yard line and appeared to be on it's way to scoring a touchdown when mistake number four occurred.

Seattle quarterback Matt Hasselbeckhit wide receiver Darrell Jacksonin full stride as he ran for 37 yards and looked like he was headed into the end zone ,untilhe washit from behind and lost the ball and the 49ers Derek Smith recovered it at the San Francisco 6 yard line.

Seattle challengedthe call.The officials reviewed the play and stuck with the original call of a fumble.Seattle made mistake number fivewhen Line backer Rocky Bernard was called for roughing the passer on the 49ers Jeff Garcia.

After the 15 yardroughing the passerpenalty, 49er running back Garrison Hurst gained 20 yards on the next play.Ten players later Hurst hit Pay dirt forhis thirdtouchdown of the game. Hurst finished the day with 124 yards and three touchdowns.

Seattle Quarterback Matt Hasselbeckengineered two scoring drives,a 15 yard pass to Koren Robinson and a 3 yard pass to Darrell Jackson to bring the Seahawks within seven points with two minutes left in the game.

Hasselbeck finished the day with a career high 427 passing yards and three touchdowns. The 427 yards passing was the most by any Seahawk.

Seattle recovered the onside kick andmistake number six appeared.After moving the ball to the 49ers 43yard line Hasselbeck's pass intended for Bobby Engram was intercepted byRashad Holman.

Game over.San Fran 31Seattle 24.

Seattle Head Coach Mike Holmgren says he is proud of his teams never say die attitude;

"I think the game was real indicative of our season," said Seattle coach Mike Holmgren. "But it's also indicative of our team, we have some kids that never say die and battle back. We had a chance at the end but we made too many mistakes against a team like the 49ers, starting with the opening kickoff, catching the ball on the three yard line but I do like the fact that they battle, and they continued to battle. They're not playing for the playoffs, they're not playing for anything other than the fact that they are professional football players and that's what they do and they have a lot of pride in that."